Artsjournal.com has a second visual arts BLOG. It is by none other than Washington's first art BLOGger, Tyler Green.
Visit Tyler's Modern Art Notes at www.artsjournal.com/man.
Saturday, January 10, 2004
Want your artwork to be in the permanent collection of WV Wesleyan College?
Deadline: January 31, 2004. Juried Mail Art Show. The theme is \"WALLS\". Taking original submissions through February 15th, 2004 by US mail and International mail only. All work submitted will become part of the permanent collection of Sleeth Gallery and will not be returned, but all artists submitting will be reciprocated with new mail art if a return address is included with your submission. No size restrictions. No entry fee. Any artist, any age, anywhere with a postal system is eligible. International
submissions highly encouraged. Deadline for entry is February 15,
2004. Opening February 24th, 2004 at 4:30 PM. For more information
check out their website. Send work to:
Sleeth Gallery
West Virginia Wesleyan College
59 College Ave
Buckhannon WV 26201
For Maryland Duck Artists:
Deadline March 18, 2004 – Artists must be residents of the State of Maryland. All entered designs must be the artist’s original work. May submit up to three entries, accompanied by $15 for one entry/ $20 for two/ $30 for 3. Species depicted on stamps may not be American Widgeon, Black Scoter, or Lesser Scaup. All media, black/white or color, are accepted. Designs must have a horizontal orientation and be 7” in height by 10” in width; each entry must arrive matted; mats should be white. Judging will take place on Saturday, March 27, 12 noon at Patuxent National Wildlife Visitor Center. For more information, call 1-877-620 8DNR ext. 8022. Or send an e-mail to: L. Wiley or visit website here.
And an art teaching job in Louisiana...
Deadline February 12 - Assistant Professor of Art- Art history/ Visual resource curator – LA. Generalist; teach 3 art history survey courses each term. Oversee Visual Resource Ctr & interns; committee work; preferred candidate to have familiarity with digital technologies, database management, image scanning, and web course design. Candidate should have experience and interest in grant writing, development of distance learning & travel course. Duties include teaching 3 lecture courses per term in art history/art appreciation. M.A., Art History, Ph.D. preferred. Salary: $30,000 - $40,000. Employment Type: Full. How to Apply: Applications should include letter of application with teaching philosophy, curriculum vitae, name, address, phone and e-mail of three current references the search committee may contact, SASE. Send to: Lewis Temple, Chair, Search Committee-Art History, Dept. of Visual Arts, Box 92295 MSU, Lake Charles, LA 70609. fax: 337-475-5927. email here and website here.
Friday, January 09, 2004
As some of you may know, there are several kinds or flavors of galleries.
For example, there are commercial fine arts galleries, which are privetely owned and for profit businesses. In our area, examples of that type of galleries include Fusebox, Numark, Conner, Parish, ours and many others. In order to pay the rent, utilities, advertising, staff, etc., these galleries must sell work as that's generally the only source of income for any business. Anything that you make after paying the artists and all the bills is a profit. Once you pay taxes on that profit, it's all yours to keep.
There are also cooperative galleries, which are also for profit businesses, but usually owned by a group of artists who share the expenses (and sometimes duties) of running the gallery. Some of those in our area are Spectrum, Gallery West, Creative Partners, Touchstone and others. They also have to sell artwork in order to pay bills. Artists usually pay a monthly fee or a small commission on sales and keep the bulk of their sales.
Then there are public art galleries, which are usually supported by a combination of public taxes and public and private grants. These are non-profit and usually directed by a board, which works with a paid director to make all the gallery decisions by committee. Some of those around our area include Mc Lean Center for the Arts, Ellipse, Rockville Arts Place, Target, and others. Additionally, public art galleries may also sell work and charge exhibiting artists a commission on sales. Some of these are good art jobs, for example, the paid director of the Ellipse Gallery has a salary of around $65,000.
There are also private non-profit art galleries, which also receive generous tax exemptions, and are eligible for public and private grants. These are also usually run by a director who must by law work together with a board and together, with the approval of the board, decide on shows, and major decisions concerning the gallery, etc. Samples of private non profit art galleries in our area include Transformer, DCAC, Flashpoint and a couple more. These private non-profits can also raise funds, in addition to grants, dues, etc. from the sales of artwork. Some of these are also very good paying jobs for its directors - usually for large, national non-profits - I know of at least two private non-profit art spaces in our area that pay its director above $80,000 a year.
Both of these last two type of institutions are known as 503 (c)'s under section 501(c)(3) of the tax code and are required by law to have a governing board - which is required by law to meet at least once a year -- and also to have all their paperwork always available to the public on request, as they receive tax exemption status from the IRS and most states require them to have three directors. This is to prevent any one individual's abuse of the tax exemption status. No profit is to be made and public records of all meetings and decisions are to be kept by law.
The current issue of the Washington City Paper has the second of Bob Lalasz's "Show & Tell" columns, all about the insider news scoops in the DC art scene. The WCP doesn't have an online version, so go and get a copy and read it.
And Lalasz has a muckraking bombshell of a piece with a spectacular admission amongst the three pieces in this article. A piece that confirms a rumor that has been going on around DC art circles for a couple of years and which is certain to get people to nod their heads and say "I knew it!"
Go read it.
Congratulations!
Area artist J. W. Carter recently won the Lorenzo Il Magnifico Prize in competition at the International Biennale of Contemporary Art of Florence.
The Florence Biennale in Italy, is one of the world's most comprehensive exhibitions of contemporary art, representing 891 artists from 72 countries. The international jury that awarded the Prize was made up of ten authoritative critics of modern and contemporary art and curators of leading contemporary art museums from the US, Spain, UK, Austria, Italy, and Mexico.
Carter has previously won several important international competitions, including the UNESCO award to create the American Peace Monument in Ravenna, Italy. In Florence, Carter presented three artworks of polychrome cast stone relief and glass mosaic: The Observer, Green Life Disc, and Pegasus.
Dr. John Spike, Director of the Biennale, said of Mr. Carter: “He could have been a physicist or astronomer. But he wishes to use the metaphor of art to deal with the issues of biosphere degradation and the future of life. His exhibit is like a scientific demonstration.”
Thursday, January 08, 2004
Tomorrow is the second Friday of the month, which means that it is time for the Bethesda Art Walk. Several galleries and art establishments participate, light food and refreshments are provided, as well as a free shuttle bus to take visitors around the galleries.
More good stuff from Annie Adjchavanich...
For the last year, Trevor Young sent more than 500 embellished envelopes with images of urban landscapes, portraits, cartoons, all autobiographical over the course of a year to Annie Adjchavanich.
They will be on exhibition January 8 - 31, 2004 at Flashpoint in a show titled "Trevor Young has gone postal" which is Flashpoint's second gallery show. Trevor also scanned them before sending them and thus discovered that a couple of dozen envelopes are missing and were never received by Annie (and may be framed and adorning some postal employees homes?). Those images will be printed out and put in a "missing in action" section. The opening reception for the artist is tonite, Thursday, January 8, from 6 - 8pm.
This is a "curated" auction and the artwork then is contributed by area artists (although this year there are some very nice pieces from some very well known non Washington artists as well, such as Spencer Tunick and former porn star turned into a damned good artist Annie Sprinkle) who have been pre-selected by the curators, which this year are: Chan Chao, 2002 Whitney Biennial artist and Adjunct Professor of Photography at the Corcoran College of Art & Design (who also donated a piece); Andy Grundberg, Administrative Chair of Photography at the Corcoran College of Art & Design; Paul Roth, Associate Curator of Photography and Media Arts at the Corcoran Gallery of Art; Virginia Shore, Chief Curator of the Art in Embassies Program at the US Department of State; and Grady T. Turner, independent curator and critic.
A bit Corcoran-heavy in the curating department, but all for an excellent cause, as the WPA/C and its tireless leader, Annie Adjchavanich, is one of the cultural jewels of this area.
Some of the better known artists in this year's list are: Richard Misrach, Spencer Tunick, and William Christenberry. Some of the locals invited to donate a piece include: Graham Caldwell, Andres Tremols, Trawick Prize finalist James Huckenpahler, Judy Jashinsky, and Colby Caldwell.
My favorite piece in the auction is this very funny and sexy photo by Lucien Perkins.
In today's "Galleries" column Jessica Dawson destroys a couple of local shows, including one of the McLean Project for the Arts' shows that I briefly mentioned yesterday.
And some local shows that you may not hear about and which may be interesting not only for the art, but also because they are in venues usually out of the mainstream:
At Goodwin House West's Gallery West in Falls Church, which is managed by Allison Miner, herself a pretty good artist, Ira Tattleman has a solo show titled "Ruminations: Photography Rethought, Regrouped, and Imagined" and runs from January 15- March 1, 2004, with an Opening Reception: Thursday, January 15 from 7 - 9pm.
See more work by Miriam here.
Wednesday, January 07, 2004
McLean Project of the Arts has three interesting exhibitions that can be caught all at once in that very nice Virginia non-profit space. They are all there until Jan. 17.
First is the MPA/Corcoran Student Show at the Ramp Gallery and it features many of Barbara Januszkiewicz's students. Barbara is a one-woman tornado - she's an exceptional artist, a terrific teacher, an award winning television producer of an arts program and a key arts activist in our area.
At the Emerson Gallery they have "Plastic Memory," feauturing work by Greg Carbo, Susan Crowder, Craig Pleasants, Lynn Schmidt, Jeff Spaulding, M. Jordan Tierney and Rex Weil.
Weil is the person who often reviews DC shows for ArtNews magazine, although generally he seems to only review museums, while I've noticed that Louis Jacobson (who also reviews for the City Paper) does galleries. Weil is also an Adjunct Professor at the Corcoran School of Art where he has taught painting and theory.
At the Atrium Gallery is "Holding Places" by Marie Ringwald.
Tuesday, January 06, 2004
Roberta Flack, a graduate of Howard University and former DC Public School Music teacher received the Mayor’s Special Recognition Award last night at the nineteenth annual Mayor’s Arts Awards at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. The award recognized her lifetime achievement in the world of music and commitment to music education.
“Artists and cultural institutions are the heart and soul of this great city," said Mayor Anthony A. Wiliams. “I am honored that so many talented artists have made DC their home.”
Mrs. Alma Powell, Vice Chairman of the Kennedy Center Board and Dana Gioia, Chair of the National Endowment for the Arts, were also in attendance last night as Washington’s finest artists and arts organizations received accolades and applause from their peers and supporters.
Glass sculptor Tim Tate, who had a spectacular year in 2003, won the Outstanding Emerging Artist award. In 2003 Tate had his first solo show (with us), had his first major museum sale, opened the Washington Glass School and won the international design competition for the AIDS Monument in New Orleans. There are articles about Tate coming in 2004 in both a US and an European glass art magazine.
A complete list of all the categories and the individual and organizational winners are listed below:
Excellence in an Artistic Discipline
Winner: Joy Zinoman
Outstanding Contribution to Arts Education
Winner: DC Youth Orchestra
Outstanding Emerging Artist
Winners: CityDance Ensemble and Tim Tate
Excellence in Service to the Arts
Winners: Whitman Walker Clinic, Art for Life Program and the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority Board of Directors, Art in Transit Program and The Washington Sculptors Group
Innovation in the Arts
Winner: 48 Hour Film Project Inc.
Mayor’s Special Recognition
Roberta Flack
Special Recognition
Patton-Boggs LLP and Roland Celette, Director of La Maison Francaise
Linda Yablonsky, the Contributing Editor of ArtNews has a piece on nudity and art which is a bit revealing, a bit surprising and overall a good read.
It's revealing in the sense that it shows the writer's dependency on New York to anchor most of her issues, points and references. It's surprising to have her tell us that "with male nudes in full display, pornography a common source material, and explicit imagery the norm in galleries and museums, sex in art has become fun, disturbing, raunchy, even cerebral." Two standards of nudity exist: one for men and one for women.
She quotes artist Carroll Dunham, (in whose paintings the penis has been a recent motif, as he's better known as an abstract painter) as saying: "male sexuality has been one of the least represented things in our culture except in pornography. Historically, painters were men getting women to take off their clothes to paint them. But I see a phallus as part of who I am, and I have a right to make it as an image. Why weren't they interested in their own bodies?"
Dunham may be right, but in an art world obsessed with the trend of the new and who did what first, I have a nepotic and provincial bitch with the penis painting issue, as anyone who is anybody in Washington, DC knows that our own Manon Cleary has painted the male penis for many years, and even appeared on an HBO special about sex, painting the penis in her own unique neo-classical manner. Problem is that Manon shows in Washington, DC and since ArtNews magazine all but ignores the DC area, she would have never come within the radar of Ms. Yablonsky, although Manon's penis paintings received enough press and interest that they came to the attention of HBO!
And if the "new" issue of marrying pornography to art is raising eyebrows lately in Gotham, then they certainly raised them here as well, as this 1997 review in the Washington Post notes:
Fraser Gallery is showing charcoal drawings of nudes by F. Lennox Campello. The subjects are mostly women Campello found on X-rated Web sites. He then arranged to meet and draw them. The drawings are very dark and the artist's abundant use of shadow effects can be heavy-handed and irritating. But in a few of the works he manages to find a delicate balance between the black charcoal and cream-colored paper resulting in a grainy, film-noir effect, making his subjects, traffickers in mass-consumption prurience, seem tough but vulnerable, like a flowering plant in a sexual wasteland.And more recently of course, was the whole flap caused by the Scott Hutchison nudes in Bethesda, which even merited a spot in our TV local news.
So Yablonsky is essentially right in isolating this trend, but what's "new" or "trendy" is sometimes a re-hash of what has been outside the tunnel vision of the writer. And just as I am tunnel-visioned to mostly what happens in the Washington, DC area visual arts, her vision and time is, as one would expect, focused upon NYC and art world superstars.
This could be partially solved if her magazine paid more attention to the rest of the nation's art scene(s), and became somewhat less NYC-focused, but that will never happen.
Opportunity for Native American Artists (from all over the Americas, not just US).
Deadline: Ongoing
The Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian is looking for artists for its DC opening in September 2004. They are looking for Native American artists to participate in the museum's six day opening ceremonies.
To commemorate the opening of this new museum, the NMAI will present "Songs, Steps and Stories" - The Festival of Native American Music, Dance and Storytelling." The opening festival is designed to strengthen and celebrate the Native cultures of North, South and Central America.
The six day festival (September 21 - 26, 2004), will feature over 200 singers, dancers and storytellers, representing 30-40 American Indian communities from throughout the Western Hemisphere. An audience of one million people is expected. There is no official application form for groups and individuals that are interested in participating in the museum's opening events.
However, the museum is asking those who are interested to send a promotional kit that should include their biography and performance history. Some reviews and written endorsements from places they have performed would be useful. In the case of performing groups, especially dance groups, a performance video is very important. For musicians a compact disc or cassette is important, but video is also a good idea. Plans for the opening focus primarily on music, dance, and storytelling, but fine artisans whose work relates to music and dance (drum makers, etc.) are of interest as well.
The museum is also interested in radio personalities and comedians who might be interested in acting as host/emcees for the performance stages. Interested artists can send their promotional kits to:
Howard Bass
Public Programs Producer
National Museum of the American Indian
470 L'Enfant Plaza
Suite 7103
Washington, DC 20560-0934
Opportunity for Sculptors:
Deadline: January 15, 2004.
For renovated lobby of DC Courthouse - Theme: "Family" - Budget: $100,000. Eligible: Artists from Maryland, the District of Columbia and Virginia. To receive a detailed prospectus contact: Francoise Yohalem at 301 816-0518. Or by e-mail: Francyo@earthlink.net.
Opportunity for Press Photographers:
Deadline: 15 January 2004.
World Press Photo has their annual competition to select the world press photo of the year. Eligibile are press photographers and photojournalists throughout the world who can then participate in the 47th annual World Press Photo Contest.
This competition accepts press photographs taken during 2003 and intended for publication. There is no entry fee. Single pictures in all categories must have been taken in 2003. In the categories Spot News, General News, People in the News and Sports Action. All pictures in the stories must also have been shot in 2003. Picture stories/portfolios in the remaining categories must have been completed or first published in 2003.
The award carries a cash prize of EUR 10,000, and an invitation to Amsterdam to attend the awards ceremony in April 2004 (including one return flight ticket and hotel accommodation). At this ceremony the first exhibition of the season is officially opened. The winner of the World Press Photo of the Year 2003 Award is also offered an exhibition of his or her photojournalistic work, to be opened simultaneously in Amsterdam. There are also 1,500 EUR awards in each of the categories. Eligible photographers can download all the info here. See last year's winners here.
For Ibero-Latin American Press Photographers.
Deadline: 28 February 2004.
Open to the American continent's and the Iberian peninsula of Europe's press photographers of Spanish or Portuguese language publications. Sponsored by the Fundacion Nuevo Periodismo Iberoamericano in Colombia. One $30,000 prize and several $25,000 prizes to the winning photographers. Entry rules and forms here.
Today's Washington Post has a story by Philip Kennicott that somewhat echoes what I discussed briefly in yesterday's posting.
Monday, January 05, 2004
As one looks at this desolate new photo of Mars, taken by the Spirit's Rover at the Mars landing site on Monday, I wonder what the first ever photos of the Red planet will fetch in vintage art auctions in a couple of hundred years (the vintage moonlanding photos already fetching quite a nice price).
I was also struck how the new photo of Mars looks a little like a Richard Misrach, but more brooding and less "landscapy" and "pretty."
Click on the photo above to visit the NASA website. It's a spectacular presentation of the Mars mission. Check out this breathtaking photograph of the Olympos Mons volcano - the largest in the solar system.
NASA is sort of re-inventing photography, as these images are not truly "photographs" but are created after processing thousands of laser altimeter elevation measurements taken by the Mars Global Surveyor. Then a computer back here puts it all together and creates a 3-D image - but this is definately art as the output of machines.
Finally ArtsJournal.com has a visual arts BLOG! It's Artopia - John Perreault's Art Diary.
John Perreault has been writing about art for many years, including art criticism for the Village Voice, ArtNews, Art in America magazines, and others.
He is currently an associate editor and writes regularly for both N. Y. Arts Magazine and American Ceramics; he is also on the editorial advisory board of Sculpture magazine and is a trustee of the Tiffany Foundation. He has also been president of the American Section of the International Association of Art Critics.
Perreault has also written a book for Abrams on the watercolors of Philip Pearlstein and is now editing a three-volume anthology of his collected writings. He has also been a museum curator, an arts administrator, and professor of art history and is thus superbly qualified to offer us a great insight via his BLOG/Art Diary into the visual arts in New York and elsewhere.
Bookmark Artopia - John Perreault's Art Diary and visit often.
Sunday, January 04, 2004
The Art League will be having their 37th Annual Patron's Show, and tickets go on sale on January 15.
If you don't know what the Patron's Show is, then let me tell you.
If you are crazy enough to be hanging around Old Town Alexandria about 4 in the morning on January 17 you will notice people forming a long line in the cold outside the Torpedo Factory. They will be waiting for a chance to get original art for their collections - or even starting a collection.
"A line for art?" you must be asking, "who is crazy enough to freeze lining up at Oh-dark-thirty just to buy artwork?"
Hundreds!
They will be lining up for one of the great art deals of the year: the 37th Annual Patron's Show. It's very simple: artists donate original artwork to the Art League, who inspects it, selects it and often frames it.
It is generally good art to suit all tastes, ranging from huge abstracts to delicate pencil drawings. Usually about 600 pieces are donated and hung, salon style in the Art League's gallery on the first floor of the Factory.
Then raffle tickets go up for sale at 10 am on the 17th, and they usually disappear and are sold out within an hour or two, and each ticket is guaranteed a work of art.
The drawing is on Sunday, February 15, and about 1500 people crowd into the main floor of the Torpedo Factory. They bring picnic baskets, wine, beer and all kinds of foods and goodies. It's a really cool time, a unique art scene in the area - far more popular and vociferous than some of the more stuffy art raffles held at other places.
On Sunday, February 15, the tickets are drawn at random, and as they are called, ticket-holders select a piece of art from the work on display on the walls and take it with them. It is without a doubt, the most sought after art ticket in town, and often incredible acquisitions are made. If you are a budding collector, don't miss it!
Saturday, January 03, 2004
Washington's own seminal art BLOGger, Tyler Green has a very interesting and eloquent article on artnet.com.
Green makes an interesting (and valid) point about the fact that video art demands, and sometimes steals time from the viewer, as opposed to the viewer deciding how long to look at a painting or print.
It's true! In fact, regardless of the fact that 99% of most of the "video art" that I've seen are essentially rather forgettable artsy home movies, even the worst of them seems to have an invisible ability to keep the viewer plugged in watching. Even in sleepers like most of Tacita Dean's videos, one keeps a vigil, perhaps hoping that something interesting will eventually happen. At the other extreme, in the classical pre-video ancestor of video art (known then as "movies") Un Chien Andalou Buñuel and Dali have disconnected scenes that make no sense and yet glue the viewer from beginning to end.
Example: a few years ago I recall seeing a video at a Corcoran exhibition; I think it was a student graduate show. In the video, two girls, wearing large goat masks were butting horns (like mountain goats do) over and over again. Even though it was a repetitive, and after a while boring motion, I recall spending more time than planned just viewing it. This experience has repeated itself many times (before and since) with video art.
Why?
Green gives us his opinions as to why. And they are good observations. I also think that the fact that we are very much a television-obsessed society, and (as Harlan Ellison noted in the 60s), the glass teat is above all adictive; we have no choice! It's on a TV screen or being projected as a movie and thus the mind goes on automatic: one must watch.
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